Key punch attachment



Patented Feb. 22 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE f Application January 28, 1943, Serial No. 473,849

10 Claims.

' of a positive means for limiting and holding the transverse movement of the card so as to insure the notches being punched in proper relationship to the holes, although it may be assumed that a card when dropped into the slot to which reference is made is slid to right or left along the bottom of the die until further movementls limited because of either the right or the left edge of the card contacting an end of said slot, depending upon the direction in which the card is moved when inserted.

In practice it is very important that the notches whic hare punched in the margin of the cards should overlap the sides of the holes or at least cut to the right or left edgeof the hole, otherwise a hook is formed as hereinafter described, a condition which permits the slotted cards to hang from the inserted sorting needle,

when elevated, contrary to the results desired as fully set forth in Perkins Patent No. 1,544,172 and Nevin Patent No. 2,213,607.

As is well known these cards are commercially supplied to the user in the printed and perforated form with-one corner removed but never in the notched or slotted form with one exception. When'it is known that a fairly large quantity of the cards are to be notched in the same location, viz.; withv the same hole or holes notched out through the one or more edges, this work is sometimes done, prior to shipment, in a foot or motor operated device,'equipped with a vertically operating V shaped grooving knife notching a stack two or three hundred cards at a time. For example, nearly all of a shipment of cards might have certain holes coded and marked to represent the year 1942 and would then be notched through the edge prior to shipping because it was expected that the supply would be exhausted during that year. This obviously saves the user the time which would be required to notch these certain holes in a key punch operating upon one card at a time. In most cases the said vertical grooving machines are rented .to the customer for the above purpose.

The three corners of the cards which are not cut away are perforated and as is well known to those employing these systems this provides a means of rapidly bringing all cards in a pack face forward and top sides up by inserting a needle through said holes progressively, permitting those which have the corners cut away to drop.

Occasionally one or more holes in addition to those required and marked with indlcia are perforated in the card when,manufactured, to provide for additional characteristics or controls which are to be added by the user at a later date and obviously these holes are never slotted to the edge of the card prior to shipment.

Considerable vibration is caused when operating the type of keyboard punch above referred to. In the hand operated device it is causedby striking the lever described -in Welk Patent No.

1,981,932 and by the operation of the parts as set forth in Welk Patent No. 2,062,153 at page 1,

line 6.- Such vibration also occurs in the electrically operated device disclosed in Welk Patent No. 2,035,777 at page 3, line 28. In practice the operator holds the card in contact with either the right end or the left end of the slot during. the punching operation to prevent it from jarring away from said position which would cause the. notches -'to punch out less than the entire hole. It is therefore necessary to hold the card in place with the left hand and to operate the keyboard and hand lever with the right hand. In the operation of the electric powered machine the card would be held in place with the left hand and the keys depressed by the fingers of the right hand which would then depress the motor bar.

Still another object is' to provide stops'differently located with reference to the card slot of a punching machine, for locating and holding a .card differently while perforations are made along different margins.

It is an object of this invention to provide means for locatingand holding the card against accidental movement to right or left during the punching operation without holding it in lace with either hand allowing both hands to befree to operate the keyboard as well as the hand lever or motor bar.

There .are several methods of manufacture used in present practice to print, perforate and cut to size such cards as are described in the, hereinbefore mentioned patents. but due to the card margin which has been slotted or 2 I manufacturing dii'llculties the edges of the cards almost inevitably vary a little in distance from the prepunched holes.

I have described these various manufactur-' ing methods in detail to indicate the desirability of a more accurate means of locating and holding these variable cards inth e key punch. It will be seen that the variations in the relation of the holes to the edges of the cards are liable to cause inaccurate location of notches with referenceto perforations in slotting the edges of cards for various classifications, all more fully explained in my copending application Serial No. 473,850 filed of even date herewith.

As illustrating other dimculties obviated b my invention, sometimes the notches represent quantities, hours of labor, account numbers, etc., and they are sometimes verified for accuracy by checking in a verifying machine which is constructed similarly to a key punch, but is not dependable when the card is located transversely by contacting either the end of the receiving slot or a stop located at either right or left end because a quantity of cards to be verified may have been notched in several different key punches, each with a differently locatedstop set to correspond with the relation of the perforations to the edge of the cards then being manufactured and used by the inspector of the punch prior to shipment.

In the Welk-Nevin Patent- No. 2,062,155 there is described a method of relocating or aligning the card after it is inserted in the aforementioned slot. This method includes plungers to enter the holes as an improvement over the previous methods of contacting an edge of the card. Experiments have proven however that. while this method is partially effective when the cards are made from a good grade of material such as the forty to sixty per cent rag stock commonlyemployed for permanent record cards, it is entirely ineffective for positioning the more economical manila or tag stock used for punched cards. When the guide plungers enter the holes of such cards they engage the edges of said holes to cause the movement necessary to align the cards but because of the weakness of such stock the cards are nearly always mutilated I at the holes instead of being moved, and the dem. s is a vertical sectional view on the line ll-il in Fig. 2.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification and drawing. As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, a card,

sheet or the like I is provided with a row or rows of conventional perforations in groups adjacent and parallel to one or more edges, andvarious combinations of these perforations are notched out through an edge for the purpose of forming a pattern to represent certain values and thus provide for arranging said cards in predetermined sequence by means of needle sorting as fully described in the hereinbefore mentioned patents. The perforations may be round as in Fig. l or rectangular (see Fig. 2) or of. other shape.

The card I rests upon a support 2 and has been inserted between the punch guide 3 and a die 3' shown in Fig. 5,, all as common in the art.

Two of the punches. are shown in cross section at 4 and It type of card locator as commonly employed in present day practice is shown at 5.

At 6 a pair of notches are shownas punched is accurate relation to the holes in the card and at 1 is shown an example of a notch inaccurately punched. At 8 is a similar inaccurate notch cut to a sufllcient depth to open out through the said key punches and which will positively locate and hold the card transversely and in relation to the holes, said means contacting a portion of notched to the edge of the card simultaneously with the perforating operation, as clearly described in my said co-pending application.

My means of accomplishing the foregoing objects may be more readily understood by refer ence to the accompanying drawing which is hereunto annexed and forms a part of this specification in which:

Fig. 1' is an illustration of aninaccurately notched card of the type employed in needle sorting, including a fragmentary front elevation of the component parts of a form of notching die.

Fig. 2 is an illustration of a similar card punched according to my co-pending application, 70

edge of the card two holes punched at different distances'from the margin of a card.

It is very desirable to retain as much card material as possible between adjacent notches, as at 6', so as to avoid sharp points as shown at 9 because these cause trouble when handling and sorting the cards due to their entering the holes in cards which they contact in the stack, and for this reason as well as to retail a maximum width of the tab II! the punches as employed'in practice are not made of the utmost possible width as indicated by notch H but only wide enough to cut out the hole as indicated at 6. A wide tab as at I0, provides strength for lifting the cards with the sorting needle and does not bend over so readily when handling, or when run through a typewriter or counting machine. Any lateral clearance as at i2 caused by the card i having been jarred away from contact with card stop 5 due to vibration of the device during the punching operation will result in lack of uniformity" of the cards. As previously stated this error may be avoided by holding it in contact with 5, employing either hand,

My improved card it, Fig. 2, is cut with locating notches it. adjacent to one or more corners as fully set forth in my said co-pending application. An angular guide 45 may be employed to guide the card into an approximate location until brought to rest upon a card support it which is provided with my herein disclosed improvement 6'5 in the form of a short rod, pin or blade slidably or permanently secured between the upper surface of support l6 and the lower ends of punch guide 3 and died and extends partly or entirelythrough the walls thereof as shcwn in 5, but in either case extends across the width of the card slot 3" with approximately cne ialf of its cross section prcjectingabcvc the quantities of statistical cards because of the economy in making the punches for perforating the notch ll.

A variation of my device 'is shown at 20 in Fig. 4, employing a horizontally located fiat stop extending into notch H. J

The device of Fig. 4 may be used alone, or it may be used in conjunction with stops such as shown in other figures. Thus it is sometimes desirable to use one style of stop in punching one margin of a card and another in punching another margin. The ends (or shorter dimensions) of the card are sometimes punched when locating to the left side of the punch (e. g., with the stop of Fig. 4) while the stop of Fig. 2 or 3 would be used at the opposite side of the card receiving slot in punching the top and/or bottom edges (i. e., the longer dimensions) of a card.

It will be understood that the locating means, such as shown at I1 and I8, may be secured'in place in various ways, as by inserting the same in an undercut groove (Fig. 3) or by lightly driving into a hole a round device I! or such a locating means may consist merely in an integral ridge on the support l6.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many other changes may be made, all without departing from the spirit of the imention, and therefore I do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my said invention what I claim is:

1. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a punch-guide, a cutting die, a series of selectively operable punches, a card support, cards having locating notches in one or more or their edges, said notches being spaced from the adjacent corners of the card, and fixed card locating means adapted to coact with a notch in the margin of acard to hold the card in proper position with reference to a punch of said series.

2. In a, machine of the character described for notching a perforated card bearing certain indicia and divisional markings, the combination of a die, a plurality of slotting punches, a card support plate and a card locato having an approximately isosceles-trapezoidal section so as to fit into a preformed notch ineach card to be punched in said device, said locator serving to insure ali nment of the holes in an inserted card with the said slotting punches during the punching opera ion.

3. In a punching machine for converting one or more predetermined holes in a card into notches, a die provided with a card receiving slot, a plurality of punches, a card supporting plate forming a unit thereof, a keyway in the upper surface of said card support extending transversely of said slot, and a key in said groove for keying previously notched cards in accurate align ment with said punches during the punching operation. s

4. In a machine of the character described, a plurality of punches, a punch guide, a cutting die,

a card supporting base, the said guide spaced apart from the die to form a card receiving slot, cards having notches in one or more of their edges, a half round lateral rib rising above the surface of said card support in position to enter a notch on a card in said slotand locate it accurately with reference to said punches.

5. A machine as in claim 4, including an inclined card guide arranged across an end of said slot for guiding cards into the slot.

'6. In a machine of the character described, a plurality of punches, a unit including a punch guide, a cutting die, and a card supporting plate,

in combination with a card locator in fixed relation to said card supporting plate, said locator being arranged to engage in a notch in an edge of a card, said notches being spaced from the corners of the card on said plate to limit the transverse movement of said card in at least one direction due to such engagement.

7. In a machine of the character described,

the combination'of a punch-guide, a cutting die, a serie of selectively operable punches, a card support, cards having locating notches in one or mor of their edges, and fixed card locating means adapted to coact with a notch in the edge of a card to hold the card in proper position with reference to a punch of said series, the card locatof their edges," and fixed card locating means adapted to -coact with a notch in the edge e; a card to hold the card in proper position with reference' to a punch of said series, the card locating means comprising a wedge-shaped key member adapted to fit in a notch in a card to be punched and to hold the same against en'dwise movement.

9. Mechanism for use with a card having a series of pro-punched holes along an edge thereof and spaced from said edge, said card also having at an edge an irregularity in predetermined relation to said holes, said mechanism comprisin selectively operable punches each adapted to slot a hole out to the adjacent edge of the card, means for supporting a card in position to be acted on by said punches, and means in fixed relation to the supporting means for coacting with said irregularity to center a hole in the card with rela- I supporting a card in position to be acted on by said punches, and means in fixed relation to said supporting means for coacting with said irregularity to center a hole in the card with relation to the coacting punch. a I

. DONALD A. NEVIN. 

